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Ecocentric Blog ]

agriculture and environment

Is it possible to raise wild animals like deer, bison, ostrich and alligator on farms in large numbers in a way that is humane and allows the animals to have limited impact on the surrounding environment? We look into wild game farms and their sustainability.

Climate change is here, and with more erratic weather, temperatures and precipitation, the threats are real. Don't fret, though: there's a framework for a more resilient agriculture system that puts adaptive management into farming and the food system, which can help everything thrive - even as problems in the system heat up.

Eating sustainably is hard and, from an environmental perspective, nutritional guidelines don't offer any clues as to how sustainable an eating plan might be. However you decide to eat, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) new report about agriculture and climate change gives little guidance on sustainable eating.

When you think about Thanksgiving turkey, what else comes to mind? No, not mashed potatoes and gravy: we're talking about cranberries. Most people either love or hate their sweet-tart flavor. We happen to love cranberries, but once we started looking into the impacts that conventional farming methods have on the environment, our relationship turned a little sour.

Post Carbon Institute supports the transition to a more resilient, equitable and sustainable world. Here, PCI's Executive Director Asher Miller talks about what he sees as the biggest barriers to bringing about a more sustainable food system and what makes him hopeful that we can make things right.

Waterkeeper and Environmental Working Group just released a new report that maps the location of over 6,500 CAFOs and their waste lagoons in North Carolina. Astonishingly, the maps illustrate how numerous counties in the state have been overrun by factory farming.

The United Nations thinks so! Pulses - aka, dried beans, lentils, peas and chickpeas- are climate change-fighting super crops that provide people with an inexpensive and sustainable source of delicious protein. To help promote these amazing plants and their benefits for our health and environment, the UN declared 2016 to be the International Year of Pulses (IYP).

It's virtually impossible to avoid either baking or eating sweet treats from Halloween straight through to the New Year. Sugar alternatives are becoming increasingly popular for a number of reasons - but how sustainable are these cane sugar replacements? And are some better for the environment than others?

In 1997, during a trip to the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo, I saw firsthand what rainforest destruction looks like. While flying into the interior of Sarawak, I had a breathtaking view of the damage done by the timber industry - large swaths of deforested land. The question is: are we still destroying the planet's rainforests?

We're facing a major decline of hard-working pollinators, but it's not a losing battle. Efforts to save our bees and other pollinators are on the rise. With bee highways under construction, pesticide-free zones under consideration and everyone joining in to garden for bees, we're almost on track to healing our bees, our environment and our food system. Here's where we're at today.

Photojournalist James Whitlow Delano created @EveryDayClimateChange on Instagram, a photographic endeavor by a diverse group of photographers from five continents, to document visual evidence of climate change on people and the environment, all around the planet. We talk about his efforts in this week's Heroic Endeavor.

For years, North Carolina communities have complained that industrial pork farms pollute their rivers and streams and lower quality of life in the area, but the state has all but ignored their complaints. The EPA is now conducting an investigation of the state's civil rights infringements that could change the game.

Like salt and black pepper, you probably reach for cooking oil for just about every meal you make. But have you ever wondered about the history of your canola oil, or what makes fancy extra virgin olive oil so expensive? Or what the heck margarine really is? Read on for all of this and more.

With the UN Climate Summit upon us, what can the rest of us do to address climate change in our own lives? When it comes to food, reducing the amount of emission-heavy foods we eat can go a long ways. Eating less meat (perhaps going meatless just one day a week) is easy and effective.

Years of Living Dangerously is out on DVD, available to stream and begging for a binge-watch. Here's our episode guide to the Emmy-winning Best Documentary Series' first season, complete with must-watch moments and synopses.

In a desperate, last ditch effort, the American Farm Bureau Federation is attempting to foil efforts to clarify Clean Water Act protection for the nation's water resources. However, their aggressive campaign only reinforces the value of clean water to our livelihoods and communities and our national economy.